The Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control

Order of Service

• Call to Worship — Romans 11:33-36
• Hymn — When Morning Gilds the Skies (#167)
• Shorter Catechism — Questions 21 & 22
• Hymn — My Jesus, I Love Thee (#648)
• Pastoral Prayer
• Sermon
• Hymn — Fairest Lord Jesus (#170)
• Benediction — 2 Corinthians 13:14

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Sermon Title: The Fruit of the Spirit: Meekness and Gentleness

Scripture: Matthew 5:5

I. Meekness Toward God

A. Meekness toward God is a humble, submissive disposition of the soul before his truth and commandments — coming before God as an empty vessel ready to be filled

• George Bethune: "Meekness toward God is a humble and acquiescing submission of the soul to the truth of all his doctrines... to the excellence of all his commandments"

B. Christ modeled this meekness perfectly

• Philippians 2:6-8 — Christ did not grasp his divine rights but emptied himself, submitting fully as the last Adam to his Father's will
• At his baptism, he submitted "so that all righteousness might be fulfilled"
• At the cross, he could have descended but stayed to fulfill all righteousness

C. We must constantly divest ourselves of prideful supposed rights before God

• Augustine: "God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them"
• Hebrews 12 — resisting God's discipline reveals a proud spirit, not a meek one
• Matthew 18:3 — "Unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of God"
• Luke 18 — Christ holds infants; the point is helplessness, not innocence

D. Meekness before God is a lifelong, constant disposition — we never graduate from the household of God

1. We are always helpless children crying out "Abba, Father"
2. We must never become like the Pharisee who began empty but grew full of himself

II. Meekness Toward Man

A. Meekness toward unbelieving man

• 1 Peter 3:13-16 — always be prepared to give a defense, yet do it with meekness and respect
  1. Meekness is not cowardice — we must speak up and defend the gospel
  2. But a defense delivered without meekness shames the defender, not the slanderer
• Bethune on the early martyrs: "It was the meekness more than the blood of the martyrs which was the seed of the church"
• Christ at the cross modeled this — silent before accusers, opening his voice only to say, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34)
• Meekness must be practiced in private — how we speak of unbelievers at home and among like-minded people is the training ground for public witness

B. Meekness toward believing man

• We often emphasize meekness toward outsiders but neglect it toward fellow believers
• The closer we are in proximity to others, the more our fallenness highlights differences and breeds contempt
• Galatians 6:1-2 — "If anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness"
• Galatians 6:10 — "Do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith"
• John 21 — Christ's threefold charge to Peter is not "love the unbeliever" but "love my sheep" — displaying meekness and kindness toward the bride of Christ

III. Meekness Toward the World

A. Meekness is the opposite of worldly ambition

• Worldly ambition keeps a man full of himself — rendering meekness impossible
• Matthew 16:26 — "What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his life?"
• Contrast with Matthew 5:5 — the meek inherit the earth of the age to come; the ambitious gain only the passing world

B. The meek man is a waiting man

• 2 Peter 3:10-13 — the present heavens and earth will pass away; we await new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells
• The ambitious man is impatient, easily offended, driven to claw his way upward
• The meek man waits with humble, self-effacing spirit for his inheritance — the new creation